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Neighbors Powering What Matters

Community Energy: the benefit of Milan Public Utilities and TVA working together
Community Energy

Community Energy—
In Our Region, Power Means More

The City of Milan and parts of Gibson, Carroll and Madison counties in West Tennessee are powered by a public power model—owned by and accountable to the people who live here. So the initiatives we invest in through our power model serve one purpose: helping our communities thrive.

Because we support public power, we all benefit from Community Energy. It’s the progress our model enables — like more job opportunities thanks to thriving and growing communities, outdoor recreation made possible by our protected lands, cleaner energy sources, and much more.

A Partnership of Service

Milan Public Utilities and TVA work together to power not just our homes and businesses, but our potential too — by combining efforts to help create a future we all believe in.

Working Together to Make Life in Our Community Better

Milan Public Utilities (MPU) and TVA were founded on a mission to serve — through reliable and affordable energy, a safe and protected environment and thriving economic development.

 

MPU provides electricity to 8,300 residential and commercial customers in West Tennessee, serving the City of Milan and parts of Gibson, Carroll and Madison counties; they maintain more than 565 miles of distribution line.

MPU taps into TVA’s Comprehensive Services program to offer commercial and industrial customers technical support for utility-related systems to ensure they are in working order with optimum power quality and lowest possible operating costs. Services include preventative maintenance, troubleshooting and energy efficiency audits. Ceco Doors, Chapel Hill Baptist Church, Dale’s Scrap Yard and even MPU have all benefited from the program.

Our energy has fueled progress in our region since 1933. See the ways it's helping shape our future.

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Resources for Your Home, Business and Life

Our partnership makes helpful programs like these possible.

Education

Milan Public Utilities (MPU) and TVA work together to support community-wide learning about energy efficiency, meet STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) objectives and provide opportunities to develop skills that can prepare students for careers in technical fields.

TVA STEM Grants

Teachers in public schools that receive power from a TVA distributor can win STEM grants up to $5,000. In 2022 alone, TVA distributed $1 million, in partnership with TVA retiree organization Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network. TVA gives preference to applications covering its primary areas of focus–environment, energy, economic development and community problem solving.

Milan Middle School received a TVA STEM grant in 2021 for an 8th grade robotics project led by teacher Nathan Nicholas. The funding supported a partnership “with a local manufacturing facility to show students how robotics is not just for fun, but can lead to a career,” Nichols says.

TVA EnergyRight® School Uplift

Schools enrolled in TVA EnergyRight’s School Uplift program receive behavior-based strategic energy management (SEM) training that helps them integrate energy efficiency practices into their daily operations to save energy and money. Schools compete to win grants for infrastructure upgrades to reduce energy costs and improve the quality of the learning environment.

TVA EnergyRight Educational Workshops

Eye Spy Energy Kids’ Workshop

TVA EnergyRight and MPU partner to bring Spark, Bolt, Zap and their other EnergyRight Monster friends to elementary schools across the community, teaching students where energy comes from, how we use it and ways to save at home. Students can continue the energy-saving fun with their families using Eye Spy Energy Kits.

Energy Evolution High School Workshop

TVA EnergyRight and MPU are working together to offer engaging, interactive workshops that empower high school students to reduce their environmental impact and lead the next wave of our planet’s energy evolution.

Education

Reliability

Milan Public Utilities partners with TVA to provide safe, reliable, clean power to service area customers. TVA supplies community energy to 153 local power companies and about 60 large industrial customers and federal facilities at the lowest feasible cost. For more than 20 years, TVA’s transmission system has achieved a reliability rate of 99.999 percent.

More than half of the electricity generated by TVA is derived from carbon-free resources. TVA’s diverse energy portfolio includes coal, gas, nuclear and hydroelectric plants as well as renewables.

The American Public Power Association (APPA) recognized MPU with a platinum-level Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) designation in 2021, which they will hold for three years. APPA gives this distinction to public power utilities that “demonstrate high proficiency in reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvement.”

Transmission lines

Renewables

Investing in renewable energy sources — like solar and wind — helps keep our power clean and affordable. Milan Public Utilities (MPU) partners with TVA to offer various ways for our neighbors and businesses to join us in supporting renewable resource energy projects in the Tennessee Valley and promote a greener energy future. Explore available resources from information that helps residents learn about solar options to programs that allow businesses to support renewable energy and operate more sustainably.

MPU participates in TVA’s Green Switch program, which allows its customers to purchase $2 blocks of energy to switch 200 kWh of their electricity to renewable energy and reduce their environmental impact.

Renewables

Residential

Milan Public Utilities partners with TVA to help customers make smart energy decisions and save money through EnergyRight®.

Together, they provide resources that help customers make smart home energy decisions. From DIY energy-saving advice to reputable local contractor recommendations, TVA EnergyRight® offers ways to help improve home energy efficiency and save money on the power bill.

 

Financial difficulties should not prevent families from staying warm in the winter or keeping the lights on. MPU and TVA encourage those in need to seek help with the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Home builders in the MPU area participating in the Energy Right® Residential New Homes Plan are eligible for cash incentives and promotional materials that show potential customers that they are considered a quality conscious vendor.

Community Energy - Residential